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briefly considered a tree, but wasn't too confident. Looking wistfully down at my ladder, I realized that I had my radio with extension cord with me. Tied a loop in the end of the cord, lowered it down, hooked the ladder and pulled it up. I sti ll can't believe it. Posted by George W. Carpenter: Rich, my usual solution is to be riding that sucker as it falls. I also disembark prior to impactbut that's another story. Posted by Rich Beckman: George, as tempting as "riding that sucker as it falls" sounds, please forgive me if I don't run out and try that out! Posted by Mad Dog: I thought ladders were only for getting onto the roof. I didn't know you could use a ladder to come back down on! Thanks for the tip of the day! Posted by Joe D.: Tie the ladder off at the top of your first trip up. And try not to trip on the rope when you come down off the roof and swing your legs over to the ladder. Posted by Mike Smith: I always tie off with the extension rope. Either that or end up as a mentionable in the "fire runs" column of the local weekly: "Truck dispatched to rescue incompetent general contractor stuck on roof." Posted by Andy Engel: In my dumb 20s, I was most of the way up a ladder when its bottom kicked out. That ladder and I fell about halfway down and then abruptly stopped. I couldn't believe my luck. I was so shaking with fear that I didn't want to turn around to see what stopped the fall for fear of dislodging whatever it was. I couldn't stay there forever, though, and I finally looked. The bottom of the ladder had reefed up in the trash pile. I was never so happy to see a pile of junk in my life. I walked away with two bruised shins and a newfound determination to set the ladder up right. Posted by Mad Dog: Andy, did you then take the wheels off the feet of the ladder? Posted by Matthew Joyce: I remember painting my mom's windows and having to span over some juniper bushes. Probably 12 ft. of run and maybe Not too steep. Made sure everything was set and went up there with my brush and coffee can half full of Cape Cod gray. Going great till that ladder kicks out 12 in. or so, dropping me enough to put that Cape Cod gray in my face, hair, ears, etc. 8 Posted by Kevin Wiseman: The last time I took a ladder ride, I reached out and grabbed the rain gutter with both hands. That stopped the ladder, but I had reached through the rungs. I pinned my arms under one rung, and my legs were straddling another. I don't want to do that again. How do I determine if my attic is ventilating properly? Posted by Bob MacDonald: I own a one-year-old Cape Cod style home with a finished second floor, including two dormers. There is R-30 insulation on the attic floor, a continuous ridge vent, and continuous soffit vents in the front and the rear of the house. I'm concerned that I am not getting enough ventilation, for the following reasons. The roof rafters appear to be darkening, with a gray and black discoloration appearing on the sides of the rafters. Is this mildew? The gap on each side of the 2x12s that form the top of the roofline is only '/, in. to 1 in. wide; I was told you need to have at least 2 in. on each side of this ridge rafter to ventilate properly. After putting a digital thermometer inside the attic near the peak of the roof, I discovered the attic temperature is consistently running 30°F to 40°F higher than the highest outside air temperature. During a recent 90°F day, the attic temp was HOOF. I have read that with a properly functioning ridge vent, the temperature difference should be no more than 100F. Do I have a problem? If so, what should I do since I've read bad things about modifying ridge-vent systems with add-ons such as electric fans, gable vents, etc.? Posted by Bill R.: Hi Rob. If you put some Scotch tape on the suspected mold and look at it under a microscope (or get it to a biologist), you can determine whether it is mold. If you're right that it affected the sides of the rafters and not the underside of the sheathing, then it's not behaving in the way that mold usually does. On a 90°F day, having attic air temperatures on the order of HO°F is not hot. The 150°F to 160°F range is common for roofs with little or no venting. If it is mold, draw out the pattern that it makes on a roof plan. Find where it is most severe and where the roof surfaces are clean. Begin drawing conclusions from that. Didn't anyone tell you that you were stepping into a minefield on this issue? Posted by Mike Smith: A 1-in. slot on each side of a solid ridge is just fine. Shingle Vent II requires a '/4-in. slot on each side. Do the soffit vents have a continuous path to the ridge vent? The differential you described is normal, just as Bill R. said. ft. of rise. Had 16 ft. of ladder. Get it? Posted by Rob Susz: It may just be water stains or preoccupancy stuff that stained the wood. Where do you live? The venting may actually be causing the mold! If it is mold-here's a big surprise-more venting won't fix it. Mold needs a source of moisture. It gets it from the hot, moist air that leaks out of your house into that space. Capes are notoriously leaky houses-kind of the model for the building-science community. I have been in several that leaked so much air the owners couldn't afford to heat them. The problem lies in establishing the air barrier for your house. Capes confuse the people that build them in that they don't know what to do with the space behind the kneewall, so they make it half inside and half outside. The real kicker is the owners pay to heat the air that leaks and rots the roof. Posted by Bob Walker: Usually when I'm seeing a lot of mold on the roof structure, there's a damp crawlspace. AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2000 17